Northbridge voters return incumbents to office

Tuesday

May 21, 2013 at 10:00 PMMay 21, 2013 at 10:45 PM

Incumbents ruled the day in the annual election Tuesday, and among the veteran officials re-elected were Charles Ampagoomian Jr. to his sixth consecutive term as selectman and Harold D. Gould Jr. to his 14th consecutive term as town moderator.

The election — which featured a four-way race for two seats on the Board of Selectmen, a two-way race for town moderator and a two-way race for the veteran’s representative on the Trustees of Soldier’s Memorials — drew 12.8 percent, or 1,292, of the town’s 10,116 registered voters.

Mr. Ampagoomian and James Jay Athanas were re-elected to the Board of Selectmen, with 863 and 693 votes, respectively. They were challenged by Robert A. Parker Jr. and John E. Brown, who received 458 and 188 votes, respectively.

Mr. Gould was challenged by former Selectman Russell D. Collins, and Mr. Gould was re-elected by a vote of 847-418.

The other race on the ballot was for the veteran representative for Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorials. Ronald L. Massey defeated incumbent Ralph Andonian by a vote of 748-436.

Voters also approved a ballot question assessing an additional $623,034 in real estate and personal property taxes to finance the purchase of a new bucket truck for the Fire Department, a backhoe for the Department of Public Works, and installation of safety and security equipment at Northbridge public schools. The question passed by a vote of 732-389; the items were approved at town meeting earlier this month.